Fines will be applied to any vehicle that parks in the space without charging

If you've ever pulled into a gas station to fill up your car only to be stymied by someone who filled up their car and then went into the store to shop, you know how irritating it can be to be blocked from refueling. Apparently, Washington EV drivers are fed up with gasoline-powered vehicles using parking spaces in front of malls/shopping centers equipped with electric chargers and specially designated for electric vehicles.

The irritation for many electric vehicle owners is that there is currently no incentive in place to prevent gasoline-powered vehicle drivers from hogging spaces equipped with electric vehicle chargers.

The problem, however, is now being addressed by the Washington State Legislature with a new bill proposed last month that would impose a fine of $124 on drivers who park in a designated charging station without charging a vehicle. Lawmakers in the House approved the fine by a vote of 84-12. The fine had previously been approved by the state Senate and now goes to the governor to be signed into law or vetoed.

The fine won't only apply to gasoline vehicles that park in charging station spaces. Even electric vehicles parked in the charging station space, but not charging will be subject to the $124 fine. The bill also requires charging stations be marked with a vertical sign and green pavement making them marked in a similar method as handicapped spots.

quote: What gets me, is why do they give primo parking spots for EV's.

Probably easier to run 30A+ circuits through a wall rather than trenching out to parking spaces. Plus, shops can be seen to be "progressive".

Frankly though, public charging is kind of a waste of time unless it's in places which you leave your car for 2+ hours at a stretch, like office lots, movie theaters, airports, gov't buildings, maybe shopping malls. For a restaurant, bank, drug store, etc., you're not going to be there long enough for a meaningful charge.

As far as the legislation goes, what if the chargers are split between spaces (which is common: 2 spots served by 1 EVSE)? What if someone plugged in then someone comes by later and unplugs them to charge their own vehicle, or just for teh lulz?

quote: Probably easier to run 30A+ circuits through a wall rather than trenching out to parking spaces.

So, the people putting these charging stations in are as lazy as the EV drivers that need to park up front, got it.

Don't a lot of these parking lots already have light poles? I'm not suggesting the power line to those lights are rated for 30A, just pointing out that they already routinly trench out to the parking lot for power lines.